Ocoee Option May Trim Trash Fee

OCOEE — Residents who were stung last fall by a $5 increase in monthly garbage collection fees may get a break soon if they agree to compost or mulch their lawn clippings.

City commissioners next month will consider making the collection of yard trash optional. That would cut the current $18-per-month garbage fee to about $16. People who want their grass, brush and tree limbs picked up would pay extra for the service.

But trash fees in Ocoee would still remain above the Orange County average - in part because the city must pay back $80,000 it borrowed to cover a shortage in revenues last year.

The only other way to trim rates, officials said, would be to cut back from two collections of household garbage a week to one. That would save residents almost $3 a month more, City Manager Ellis Shapiro said.

But city commissioners rejected that option last summer when they were studying garbage fee alternatives. At least two commissioners - Paul Foster and Rusty Johnson - continue to oppose reducing the number of collections.

''The savings amounts to about 50 cents a week. It isn't worth it,'' Foster said. ''You know what garbage would smell like after a week in the summer heat around here.''

Many of the nearly 40 residents who showed up for a special meeting on garbage issues Tuesday night pelted the commission with questions about why Ocoee's rates are the highest in the county.

''The rates have gone up drastically, and service has gone down,'' complained Pablo Quinones.

He was referring to Ocoee's garbage trucks, which no longer take more than three cans of trash at a time. Before October, there was no limit.

Shapiro said the city had to place a limit on the amount of refuse it takes because of higher charges at the county landfill. That - along with the mandatory separation of yard trash - is a key reason for the higher fees.

Harold Switzer said the county could hold down its costs if the huge trucks that carry garbage from the transfer station off Good Homes Road to the landfill in east Orange did not use the East-West Expressway and pay tolls.

Smitty Branch asked whether the city would save money by having a private company pick up garbage, as Windermere and some other cities do.

Because the city cannot afford to buy more garbage trucks, Shapiro said, private haulers may be asked to collect trash from new neighborhoods.

Each month, $1.53 of a resident's garbage bill goes to pay back the loan that covered last year's operating deficit. When that is repaid by the end of this year, that portion of the fee will be saved for future improvements of garbage collection equipment, said Montye Beamer, the city's director of administrative services.

''Ocoee residents don't have deep pockets,'' said former Commissioner Robert Lyle. ''The city should tighten up wherever possible to provide the best service at the least cost.''